Track Your Cat, Dog, or Even Horse With Tractive

Move over, Tagg. There’s a new GPS tracker on the block for pet owners looking for an easy way to know where they are at all times. Tractive, an Austrian company, unveiled its GPS tracking device at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) which gives pet owners peace of mind with real-time tracking and location information.

Yes, Tagg has been around for a while. However, it is very limited in its application. The Tagg GPS tracking device is quite large, and this means it is only suitable for medium to large sized dogs. The location tracking itself is far from real-time: the Tagg device will not display the route your dog has taken. Instead, the hardware pings the system on the Web every 10 minutes.

Tractive felt a GPS device could do so much more for pet owners, who are oftentimes just as worried about their precious furry friends as a mother would be about her children. Their solution: a GPS tracking device small enough to be worn by cats and small dogs. This allows more pet owners to keep an eye on their pets, even farm animals such as cows, horses, sheep, and donkeys. The company has conducted successful testing on these animals.

Tractive also relies on a SIM card, which is the key to its real-time tracking. Simply download an app or log on to a website to view your animal’s whereabouts on a map. The hardware and app communicate constantly rather than relying on pings every so often. You can set a “Safe Zone,” and each time your pet leaves this zone, you will be notified instantly.

If you install the app on your smartphone (iOS only, $4.49), you are able to store vital information in one place, such as vaccination records and appointments, vet information, and chip ID number to name a few. The tracking service itself will cost about $6.50 each month.

Tractive is expected to be available to US customers by the end of the month. An Android version of the app is expected to follow at some point in March.